LOS ANGELES — The civil hearing for a restraining order requested against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer has been postponed to Aug. 2 after Bauer’s legal team requested more time to prepare a defense against witnesses and documents that it claimed to receive only recently.
Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman set aside Aug. 2, 3 and 19 for the hearing, which is expected to take between two and three days. The temporary restraining order against Bauer will remain in place until the hearing is complete. Bauer’s administrative leave expires on Tuesday, but Major League Baseball can extend it once again with consent by the MLB Players’ Association.
Bauer was present for the hearing in L.A. Superior Court on Friday, wearing a burgundy suit and quietly staring straight ahead throughout the proceedings, as was the woman who has accused him of sexual assault. Bauer’s legal team told the judge that it has advised him not to testify given the ongoing criminal investigation for alleged sexual assault. But the petitioner’s side stated that he must nonetheless take the stand, even if he utilizes his fifth-amendment rights to not answer questions, to which the judge seemingly agreed. Both sides will call witnesses.
MLB and the City of Pasadena Police Department are conducting separate investigations into Bauer, who has been accused by a woman of choking her until she lost consciousness on multiple occasions, punching her in several areas of her body and leaving her with injuries that required hospitalization over the course of two sexual encounters earlier this year, according to a domestic violence restraining order that was filed in L.A. County Superior Court in late June, copies of which were obtained by ESPN.
The restraining order was executed as a temporary ex parte, which can be attained without input from the other party. Bauer’s side told the judge it plans to fight against the declaration “at great length” and previously issued a statement denying that Bauer had assaulted the woman, calling the encounters “wholly consensual.”
The Dodgers have canceled Bauer’s bobblehead night, which was scheduled for Aug. 19, and have removed all of his merchandise from the team and online stores, saying they “did not feel it was appropriate” given the investigations. Bauer, the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, joined the Dodgers with a record-setting three-year, $102 million contract in February.